PDD (Post Disney Depression) and some Post-Disney Reflections

My time at Disney was- dare I say it-magical. I met so many friends. Had my first real relationship. Gained a lot of good experience, professional and otherwise. I got to freakin' live at the most magical place on earth for an entire year. It was amazing to not live with feet of snow and spend an hour or two at a park whenever I wanted. College wasn't always amazing for me, and Disney wasn't without some bumps here or there, but I truly was able to find myself and I was the happiest I had been in a long time.

That being said,  the first two weeks home I was really depressed. I was missing the warmth (it's been a cold summer in Michigan. When I first got home there were very few days above 80, but it has been a bit warmer the last week or so.) I was missing my cubicle at Maingate. I missed logging into SIMBA and seeing the weekly reports being updated. I missed modifying my Starbucks/DLR 60th forecasts. I missed my apartment at Falcon Square. I missed my friends. I missed (most) of the roommates I had had during my year in Florida (all 8 of them). I missed DAK. I missed the rides. I missed the resorts. I missed hearing the Sandhill Cranes calls. I missed running around Independence. I missed so many things. 

I had applied for a few positions and hadn't gotten most of the positions. When I found out that I hadn't gotten the one I was most hopeful for (and would have kept me at Maingate Merchandise) I cried. I cried a lot. I honestly felt like my dreams had been crushed. During the weeks since the bad news, I've actually had a few more interviews, including what would be a dream job for me. I found out I didn't get one position, but there is still one I am waiting to hear back on. I think I will still be really disappointed if I don't get the position, but I am beginning to be okay with staying in Michigan. If I don't get this position I might cry, but I have come to adopt the mentality that a few of my old Presenter friends who left Disney have said: Disney isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So if I don't get the position, right now I am going to hold of on applying to more Disney positions and look for some jobs around Metro Detroit. Then once I pay off loans (and maybe get sick of being at home) I can always go back with the added experience. 

I think all ex-Disney CMs should have that mentality: Disney isn't going anywhere. It's going to be there for the foreseeable future, whether or not it is just for a visit or if it is there to stay. 

That being said, fingers crossed for some good news in the next week or two. :)

My Apartment and Roommates at Falcon Square

So back in June I never made a housing post, so I figured it would be better late than never, especially since acceptances for the next wave of internships are rolling out so people (including myself) might be thinking of where they might be living in January if they get the exciting news of an offer.

Well, the day we got into Orlando back in June, my dad and I drove through Independence to check it out. I took a picture with Tigger in front of one of the Falcon Square buildings, and come to find out, that is the building I ended up living in!!!

Tigger on my building sign the day before I moved in!

Unfortunately our building is the furthest one away from all of the others, so it can be quite the hike to pick up mail or visit anyone else. I ended up driving to visit my friend on the complete other side of Falcon when he was here during the summer since it was such a walk and that way I wouldn't have to do it in the dark either. I haven't been to the pool at all, which is sad, but the weather is looking like it is turning back around so I might try and spend some time reading by the pool in coming weeks. We also always try and check our mail when doing errands. When it was nice I would go on post-work walks and get the mail (especially after my best friend down here went back to school and I suddenly had a ton more free time) but nowadays we check it less frequent since it isn't really convenient.

Pic of my room taken back in August

Anyways, that was a bit of a tangent, I chose to live in Disney sponsored housing since it was very hard to find reasonable places that offered short term leases, especially ones that were furnished. My rule was that I was only going to live off site if I could find something that would be cheaper. I did get close to getting a vacation home, but it didn't end up working out. Disney housing is nice since rent is taken out of our paycheck, it is furnished, utilities are included, didn't have to worry about signing a lease with other people, etc. It does stink a little that if you look at how much we are paying for a 2 bedroom apartment between 4 people it is a lot, but it really complicated finding housing down here. The apartments are decently sized, and I never really feel like we are on top of each other. Different apartments have different layouts, too. I like the area where we live in a lot. It is really peaceful and doesn't have that touristy feel a lot of other areas with apartments do. While Animal Kingdom is furthest from our apartment, the area by Magic Kingdom is 5 minutes away. Everything seems like it is 20-30 min away from Falcon, but honestly, I feel like that is how it is around Orlando. I just don't think they had a very good civil engineer plan their road ways so things might look close on a map, but the accessibility seems really inefficient wherever you go in the Disney area.

Another view of our room.
Including out closet, which you can walk into and is actually very spacey

I ended up choosing 2 of my roommates before and we were able to list each other. We met through a Fall 2014 Animal Programs Facebook group and it ended up working nicely. I am kind of glad that I chose ahead of time since I knew who I would be living with, and we have similar interests, but at the same time I would have loved getting to know interns from other areas of the company. We did hang out with a few Imagineering interns a lot in the summer, but once they left for school/got another job, we were left to our Animal Programs selves again. I liked getting to meet Nick's roommates, too, who were all pretty much engineer/imagineer people since they were more math-y like me and were fun to talk to.

My desk

We have had 2 other roommates in the course of our internship. The first was an Engineering intern who had been here since May and had lived with 3 Ed. Presenters but apparently they moved them to another apartment for the last 3 weeks of their internship (I was never told this would be a possibility since our internship is longer than all of the others, but apparently Amber was. I hope that we don't end up having to move. I might end up trying to fight it since I wasn't told upfront). Her internship was through August, but she ended up extending through December and moved out to a house with some friends in August (and she ended up being offered a full time position in late September/early October!!!). Our second roommate is still in college and is an Industrial Engineering Intern in the Safety division from August-December. She is from Ohio and is pretty awesome. Since our first roommate had done a previous internship and had been here, she had her own friends she hung out with and when she did hang out with us I was often hanging out with my friend Nick who was only here for the summer. Our second roommate was new and she hangs out with the other engineering people too, especially since none of us have traditional weekends and she goes home more often then the rest of us, but we still hang out with her quite a bit. 

My bulliten board from back in August. (everyone in Falcon gets one)
A few more DWCF buttons have been added since then

Anyways, I am glad that I chose to live here this semester. It allowed me to meet some awesome roommates, be close to a ton of other interns (even if I haven't been able to meet many others besides my Animal Programs friends), got to hang out with Nick when he was here this summer, and overall, it has been a lot less stressful than living in another place would have been (one friend has had nothing but problems, and a few others ended up paying more than us per month even though initially it would have been less). If I get another internship for next spring, I am thinking of finding a vacation home to rent with a few other people if some of my Animal Programs friends end up staying around and are interested.

Also, I just realized I never took pics of the common areas of the apartment so I'll want to do that before I leave and will perhaps try to put them up here eventually (but no promises).

Check-In Day

Sorry that this is a SUPER LONG post, but a ton happened my first day at Disney! I will hopefully keep future posts shorter after the craziness of the first week. I just want to remember all the details myself! I will also try and post pictures later!!!!


Housing Meeting
So today began bright and early, well earlier than I am used to at least. I got up around 6:30ish to make sure that I had plenty of time to make myself look nice, check out of my hotel, and so I could get to the housing meeting a little early. I did my hair once, then I went outside to get some ice and my hair went crazy again. Luckily I got it to look presentable before I headed out. I wasn't very hungry and only ate a part of a muffin before heading over. I got to Vista Way around 8:15 and was lucky to get a parking spot right next to the building that we had our housing meeting in. When I got "in-line" (we were really more of a mob) I was right beyond Joey, a kid I went to high school with. It was a little awkward since I hadn't spoken to him since graduation, but it was nice to see a familiar face. We were given name tags and waited a bit longer before we were allowed to head inside. 

Once we got in we handed over our DORMS paperwork and got a housing packet (including out key) and got our picture taken for our housing IDs. We don't really use them much unless we want to go to housing events, from my understanding. This is also were I first met me roommate Amber. We had been talking on Facebook beforehand, but it was nice to meet her in person. We had a pretty quick 15-20 min talk over a few housing things, signed a sheet saying we understood the rules and we were on our way. Overall, Vista Way and the housing process was different than what I expected. I guess I had just read things from CP blogs, but it is WAY faster than I thought it would take. We also got free donuts!

Casting Check-In
So I was scheduled for a 10:15 check-in, but just decided to go straight to Casting after the housing meeting ended. I really didn't have enough time to drive Falcon and was already checked out of my hotel. I went in and no one said anything about me being early. First we passed through the doors, which have doorknobs like in Alice and Wonderland. Then you enter an atrium with tall white pillars with golden Disney characters on top. I didn't wait here long though.I then was led down this hallway were I waited some more, talked to a few people (including an Aquaculture intern named Brett) and met a managers at Liberty Inn who was super nice (she started as a CP, then did an MI, and she also managed the food trucks in DTD). Then we truly got started when we got handed a folder with two sheets of paper, one with our traditions time (I am in the morning) and the other with instructions on changing our address on the Hub once we get access. Then we signed some confidentiality agreements, went over our I9s (which we filled out before we arrived) and got fingerprinted. When I first tried to give my fingerprint on the computer thingy the guy didn't really give me instructions and I was putting my hand down too hard, but then didn't have a problem with getting my prints after that. He kept having a hard time entering y information into the computer system though. Near the end we were in a line and this lady told the guys that they were cooking dinner for the girls. I am waiting for my dinner Matt! lol. Lastly, we went over the Disney look and were sent on our way! I ended up getting out of Casting around the time I was supposed to start.

Falcon Square Apartment
After Casting I drove to check out the apartments. We actually were in the furthest building, which was actually the building my dad and I had driven by the day before. When I got upstairs Dana and her boyfriend were unpacking her stuff. We also did some creeping on our forth roommate since we only put 3 names down on the sheet. Her stuff was pretty much all set up, but there wasn't a lot of food. Therefore we thought she might have been there for a while but weren't sure. I tried taking some stuff up stairs, but it was really hot and humid and going up the 2 flights of stairs was tiring. I made it my goal to bring all of my stuff in from the main part of the car. Then I headed to Chick-Fil-A since I had only ever had it once at Cedar Point. It was super crowded and there were probably over 50 kids running around. I then headed back and had a little bit of time before we had to head to our Animal Programs meeting.

Animal Programs Meeting
Dana, Amber, and I jumped in Amber's car and drove back to casting for our Animal Programs meeting. We almost got lost, but made it just in time. We all waited in the atrium again, but it was SUPER crowded. Then all 68 Animal, Science, and Environment interns headed into a room where we confirmed our phone number at the door and were given a folder thing with a binder thing, a pen, a Disney Conservation button and a thing about the conservation fund. We were introduced to our leaders, played an icebreaker where we were supposed to organize ourselves alphabetically by last name (it didn't work and it was taking too long so we stopped), went around the room to introduce ourselves, and then split up into groups based on role to go over our training schedules. In all it probably took about an hour or so. It was fun to meet people we had been talking to on Facebook and Yammer and finally find out more about what we are doing. We were told to brush up on scientific names and I had read in the past they did an icebreaker involved them, and some people were nervous, but we didn't end up doing anything with scientific names at all.

Exploring
After we got done with casting, we decided to figure out how to get to Animal Kingdom and time how long it took to get back to our apartments. It was fun to drive around property. We went to the Animal Kingdom guest gate and met the CP I had talked to the day before and she said we could drive around the parking lot, so we did. She gave us some other instructions we didn't understand and ended up driving around the parking lot in circles. We decided to park and get a picture in front of the Animal Kingdom sign. It was funny that Amber and Dana had to get their bags checked, but we walked right back out 5 minutes later. We then exited the parking and tried to find the cast parking. Instead of turning where we were supposed to, we went straight and ended up at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. So we decided to park and explore the hotel a little. I loved it! I would love to be able to stay there someday. It was fun to just walk around and see animals so close. I really want to go back to explore the grounds, animal watch, and get a picture in front of the sign.

The rest of the night
Lastly, we timed our way home and drove to Publix to get some food. We found it to be super expensive so we decided t hold off on buying a lot. We finally headed home for the night and met our last roommate Lexi. She is an engineering intern from Texas who started a summer internship in May but will be extending till December. She said she might leave Falcon Square at the end of the summer. She was really nice even though we have barely seen her yet. She had also done a Project Management internship last fall and stayed at Falcon Square than as well. We all finally settled in. At this point I was past hungry and didn't feel like eating dinner. Lexi went to a friends to drink and invited us, but we all decided to stay and unpack some. 

It is amazing how much we did our first day and it was definitely better than the day before!!!!

Arrived!

So today has been super stressful. It was all good until we got around Disney. We ended up deciding to drive by the apartments the PIs live in. They are super nice, but we decided to get an idea how far they are from Animal Kingdom, and while we took a wrong turn or two, it seemed to take FOREVER! I am really wishing that the non-Disney housing I tried to line up had worked out. We did check to a CP at the gates to Animal Kingdom parking and she was super nice and helped us get re-directed and asked if I was starting a CP, too. Then we checked into my hotel. It is really nice and I am glad I stayed here over the Holiday Inn that a lot of people recommended since I saved $20. After checking out my room, we decided to find where I needed to go tomorrow, so it won't be as stressful. I luckily am pretty close to Vista (housing check-in) and Casting. Afterwards, we drove around property a bit more before heading toward Kissimmee. 

Tigger at breakfast at the Days Inn hotel (he is confused since it says that the Tiggers at Kansas City was postponed, when the Tiggers actually played the White Sox....)

I plan on it!

Since we had time before my dad had to go to the airport, we stopped to get my oil changed since I was due for it. It was looking good, until we got on the toll road and the check engine light came on. My dad got out and looked at the oil and it looked good. We were going to try and head back to where I got my oil changed, but didn't have time. So I dropped my dad off at the airport and headed back. Unfortunately, a big monsoon hit and I could barely see in front of me. Then my brakes started acting funny. I luckily somehow made it back to the oil change place right before they closed. They ran a diagnostic on it and said it should be safe to drive but I will need to get it checked out. After more stressful, rain filled driving, I finally made it back to the hotel and just didn't want to deal with the rain and decided to just make dinner out of the food in my car (potato chips, cookies, and muffins, ftw!). 

We made it to Flordia!

I spent a chunk of the night super stressed trying to find a car place and all the Chevy dealerships are further away than I would like. My mom found a mechanic closer to my apartment that has good reviews so I might try to call there or the Chevy dealerships tomorrow to figure out where I will take my car. Hopefully they can figure out what is wrong on my two days off before training on Saturday! After a shower and listening to music I am much calmer, but still a little anxious with having to deal with so much in a new state when I already have everything else (casting, moving in, grocery shopping, etc) going on. Despite today, I am super excited for tomorrow!

The hotel pool

Some birds by the oil change place

Made it to Disney!!!

Our hotel for the night. Tigger gets one bed and I get the other

My future workplace!!!

My apartment complex 

Two Weeks!

Two weeks until I check-in to start my Fall 2014 Professional Internship! I am so excited! Today I found a post describing the housing welcome events for June. A bunch of the Animal Programs Interns are all planning on trying to go to as many as possible. 

Here are the three they have described:  June Housing Events

I real hope to meet some rare characters at these events, get some free food and possibly win some free stuff. It would also be cool to meet some CPs, too, since all the event take place at one of the College Program housing complexes, Chatham Square. It kind of stinks that there aren't any events at Falcon Square, where the PIs live, but I think it will be worth it.